When Liberty woke up the next day she could feel something nestled into her. She opened her eyes to see that a black kitten had his eyes shut and was pressed against her, fast asleep. After looking at the kitten for a bit she realized it was Lucky.
She pushed the kitten away, causing him to wake up. "Why are you here?" she asked, attempting to make her tone sound as nice as possible.
"I had a nightmare," he murmured.
Liberty sighed. "About what?"
"My mom," Lucky said. "She tried to take me away from here."
"Well, she won't," Liberty said. "Don't come in here again, I don't want you waking me up."
"Okay," nodded Lucky, with such a sadness in his voice Liberty almost regretted scolding him.
"Go back to the young, then," she said.
"I want you to take me out into the snow," Lucky insisted.
"Snow?" echoed Liberty.
"Yeah, it snowed last night!" Lucky said eagerly, seeming to have forgotten his bad dream. "Cloudie was telling me about it. They all went out and I wanted you to come with me."
"Why?" Liberty asked.
"So we can play!" Lucky exclaimed, beaming at her.
Liberty hesitated, then sighed. "Fine. Let's go."
Lucky bounced out of the den excitedly, and Liberty picked her way through the sleeping Waterbenders, following. "Slow down!" she snapped as she headed into the hallway. Lucky stopped in his tracks, waiting for her to catch up, and once she did he trotted along her side.
They walked out into the yard to see everything was covered in snow. The sky was gray, covered in clouds, but it had stopped snowing. As Liberty stepped out, half her front leg sunk into it. She turned to Lucky. "You're gonna have to get on my back, kid. It's way too deep for you."
Lucky nodded and bunched his legs together, before jumping onto Liberty's back. "Don't dig your claws in," insisted Liberty.
"I won't!" Lucky exclaimed.
There were several animals out in the yard, but not many. Liberty figured most were either training inside, or out in the territory, as finding prey would be essential on these conditions. Also, snow training was something apprentices needed, so the current weather would be good for that.
As Liberty looked at the few animals in the yard, they'd look back at her, but not for long before looking away, sometimes glaring at her first. Annoyance pricked at Liberty's pelt. Why are they so mad at me? she demanded to herself.
Overnight Liberty realized it was her opposite who had caused all of this trouble. It had to be; it definitely wasn't a big prank of some sort, and Liberty knew she never said she wanted Starlight to die, or destroyed the herb supplies. She hoped that was the only thing her opposite had done, or else she was in more trouble.
"Liberty," said a voice. Liberty turned and realized it was her mother, Charlotte; and she didn't look happy.
Hesitantly, Liberty approached her mother. "What?"
"Liberty, you were being very rude yesterday," said Charlotte.
"What did I do?" Liberty demanded.
"I think you know," Charlotte retorted.
"Well, I don't," Liberty shot back through gritted teeth.
"I don't have time for lies," growled Charlotte, making Liberty shift her jaw in annoyance. "I want to know why you did what you did."
"How am I supposed to give a reason to something I don't even know about?" Liberty snapped.
"You do know about it!" Charlotte yelled, making Liberty flinch. "Stop trying to pretend like you don't!"
"Well I--"
"Quit talking back to me. Now, for the rest of the moon I don't want you leaving the yard or The Bending Tower unless told otherwise by a senior Bender or Ash himself. Got it?"
"Bu--!"
"Got it?"
"Got it," growled Liberty. "I've got to go take Lucky out now." She then trudged through the snow, frustration raging through her at her mother. Liberty wanted to yell at her, scream at her that it wasn't her fault and she didn't understand any of this, but there was no way Charlotte would believe her.
"What's wrong?" Lucky asked, and for a while Liberty had forgotten the kit was on her back.
"Nothing, I'm fine," Liberty muttered.
"Oh. Okay."
They arrived in the forest. "Cloudie and the others should be around here," Lucky commented.
Liberty smelled the air. "I can scent them nearby," she said.
"I wish I knew how to scent," Lucky murmured.
"It'll develop as you grow older. Your mentor will probably teach you," Liberty added.
"What's a ment...or?" Lucky asked.
"An animal who teaches you."
"Who'll teach me?"
"I don't know."
They made it to the hole in the ground, with the log serving as a bridge in front of them. "Now you're allowed to dig your claws in," Liberty said.
She could feel Lucky do so, but it didn't hurt. Liberty slowly crossed the log, digging her claws in as a precaution, and made it across, then kept going through the forest, Lucky now loosening his grip on her as they continued on through the territory.
Finally they made it to tree-fall place, where the young were chasing each other around, playing a game. Airia was there also, much to Liberty's annoyance. She didn't feel like talking to the winged wolf after being accused of messing up the herbs.
"There. Go play," Liberty said, lowering down.
Lucky set a paw into the snow, but yelped and drew back. "It's cold!"
"Yep. Snow's cold," Liberty said.
"And it feels weird," Lucky said, and Liberty could picture the kitten wrinkling his small nose in disgust. "How can they be playing in it?"
"Snow can be fun when you get used to it," Liberty replied.
"But I don't like it," Lucky insisted.
"You barely set your paw in the snow. Try it."
The black kitten then reluctantly got off Liberty's back. Luckily the snow here didn't sink as much, so Lucky's paws didn't go too far under the blanket of snow. A gust of wind blew through the area, making some of the snow flow against their pelts. Lucky shivered. "It's cold."
"You said that before," Liberty said.
Lucky picked his way over to the young. "Can I play?" he asked.
They stopped to look at him. "Of course!" Cloudie insisted.
"But he can't play!" Alista protested. "He always trips over his own paws."
"That's mean, Alista," Rhonda insisted.
"It's true though," Alista remarked.
Lucky's ears drooped. "Sorry," he murmured.
Somehow Liberty felt a protective instinct towards the kitten and she stepped forward. "Hey," she growled, and the rest of the young flinched. "You tripped over your own paws too Alista. You have no room to talk."
"I'm sorry!" Alista squeaked. "Just don't be mean, like you were yesterday."
This made Liberty madder. Now even the young were thinking she behaved just as her opposite apparently had. "I won't," she replied. "Now be nice to Lucky."
"We are!" Rhonda protested. "Except Alista isn't."
"I said I was sorry!" Alista yelped.
"Sorry you ever got so close to me. You're 'it'!" Cloudie exclaimed, tapping Alista with her paw before taking off.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Alista shouted. She chased after Cloudie, but the amount of snow slowed both her and Cloudie down.
Liberty sat down in the snow to watch the young, making sure to keep a safe distance from Airia. Alista seemed to have her mind set on chasing Cloudie, who kept running from Alista. At first Liberty wondered if this was unfair due to Cloudie's blindness, but surprisingly the wolf pup seemed to be a good navigator despite this. The silver pup managed to jump over tree logs in her way and avoid rocks in the ground. Liberty was impressed by it.
Lucky was standing by Okerro, who were both keeping at a safe distance. "One of those two always end up arguing or trying to chase each other," Okerro was explaining. "You just need to avoid 'em."
"You need to pay attention, too!" Rhonda exclaimed, tackling Okerro and pinning him to the ground. "I got tagged, and guess what? You're it!" she laughed and got off him before taking off, surprisingly fast for having her paws sinking into the snow with every step.
Okerro got to his paws and gave a hungry look at Lucky, who took off as soon as the winged pup had gotten up. Okerro gave chase, using his wings to help him speed up. Lucky ran though - about as fast as Rhonda, which was impressive given Lucky's size - and he ran right up a tree, getting pretty far up but then stopping in the middle. He gave a wary glance at the ground. "Help!" he yelped, dangling.
"Just climb up the rest of the way!" Liberty insisted.
"I can't!" Lucky cried.
"Okerro, maybe I should teach you how to fly soon," Airia chuckled. "It'd help you in situations like this."
"Yeah!" Okerro said, beaming at his mother.
"That won't be fair!" Alista protested.
"Stupid wolf gets born with wings and all the sudden he'll be able to win every game of tag!" Rhonda exclaimed.
"Rhonda, don't call others 'stupid'," Airia insisted.
Meanwhile Liberty headed over to the tree and helped Lucky down. "You would've been fine if you just fell," she insisted.
"The ground was far away," Lucky whimpered.
"'Ey guys!"
Liberty turned around to see Ryker, Sirius, Ekaj and Spot all there.
"Hi!" Rhonda exclaimed.
"Why're you guys out here?" Liberty asked.
She couldn't help but notice Ryker, Sirius and Ekaj - especially Ekaj - giving her uneasy glances. But Spot spoke up. "Our mentors told us to take the morning off, use the opportunity to get some exercise. We could smell you all out here. Decided to join you."
"Yeah," Sirius echoed, eyeing Liberty.
A feeling of dread washed over Liberty. Great, she thought. What'd my opposite do to them?
"Wanna play tag?" Okerro asked. "It'd be cool to have more players."
"Sure," Spot shrugged. "But I'm warning you, I'm pretty fast."
"Not as fast as me!" insisted Rhonda, puffing out her chest.
Liberty looked at Lucky. "Are you okay playing with big animals?"
Lucky gave a shy nod.
"They'll go easy on you," Liberty added. "Go play."
Liberty turned to watch from a distance - determined not to join in on the game - but when she turned around she was face-to-face with Sirius and Ryker.
"Out of the way," Sirius growled, gritting her teeth, shouldering past Liberty.
Liberty pushed down on Sirius's tail, forcing her to stop. "I want to know why you're mad at me," she said calmly.
A flash of fear sparked in Sirius's eyes - Liberty wondered if she was recalling her fight with Sirius's brother Wyki - but it left not soon after being there. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Sirius, I don't know what 'I' did to you, but that was my opposite. I have no memory of it," Liberty insisted.
Sirius rolled her eyes. "Right. And I suppose Ryker over here has two heads." She gave a sideways nod to the Border Collie.
"It had to have been! You saw--" Liberty lowered her voice before continuing, "--you saw Bracken and Ash in that cave. Remember?"
Sirius seemed to consider Liberty's words, but just growled. "I don't believe you."
"Why don't you?" Liberty demanded, anger bubbling up inside her chest.
"The memory is still fresh in my mind. You took part of my ear," Sirius growled.
Liberty only just now noticed the nick in Sirius's left ear. The silver wolf continued. "You took in while you were attempting to kill me!"
"Wha--?" Liberty began.
"Don't play dumb," Sirius snarled, lips curled. "You said Fake-Ash gave you orders to kill me. And you obeyed him," she whispered. "How could your loyalties lie with him?"
"But I didn't--!"
"Save it, traitor. I don't want you to talk me to ever again."
Sirius then yanked her tail from Liberty's paw and walked over to join in on tag. Ryker gave Liberty a look. "You try to come close to Sirius again, I'll tear you apart."
Liberty was coming closer and closer to snapping, to screaming in anger and confusion. "Let you try to do that," she hissed to the dog. It made it sound like she was guilty of trying to kill Sirius, but at that point Liberty didn't care; and she knew that if Ryker did try to come after her, he'd lose the fight.
At that point, Liberty's anger was beginning to take over her. She turned to leave, deciding Airia could bring Lucky back, but once she turned around again this time she was looking at Ekaj.
He flinched as he looked at her. "Liberty..." he began.
She was too angered to let him speak. "Save it. I don't want anymore accusations thrown at me." She then walked past Ekaj, heading back towards The Bending Tower without looking back.
Liberty kept trudging through the snow, wallowing in her own anger. She knew she wasn't too far from The Bending Tower, but then Fake-Ash came into the clearing.
"Hello Liberty," he said calmly.
Liberty gritted her teeth. Just what she needed. "Hello," she returned.
"I have something I'd like you to do for me," Fake-Ash insisted, his dark blue eyes looking at her and a cold smile forming onto his face, as if he had a horrible plan in his mind.
Author's Note:
What do you think it is? o:
She pushed the kitten away, causing him to wake up. "Why are you here?" she asked, attempting to make her tone sound as nice as possible.
"I had a nightmare," he murmured.
Liberty sighed. "About what?"
"My mom," Lucky said. "She tried to take me away from here."
"Well, she won't," Liberty said. "Don't come in here again, I don't want you waking me up."
"Okay," nodded Lucky, with such a sadness in his voice Liberty almost regretted scolding him.
"Go back to the young, then," she said.
"I want you to take me out into the snow," Lucky insisted.
"Snow?" echoed Liberty.
"Yeah, it snowed last night!" Lucky said eagerly, seeming to have forgotten his bad dream. "Cloudie was telling me about it. They all went out and I wanted you to come with me."
"Why?" Liberty asked.
"So we can play!" Lucky exclaimed, beaming at her.
Liberty hesitated, then sighed. "Fine. Let's go."
Lucky bounced out of the den excitedly, and Liberty picked her way through the sleeping Waterbenders, following. "Slow down!" she snapped as she headed into the hallway. Lucky stopped in his tracks, waiting for her to catch up, and once she did he trotted along her side.
They walked out into the yard to see everything was covered in snow. The sky was gray, covered in clouds, but it had stopped snowing. As Liberty stepped out, half her front leg sunk into it. She turned to Lucky. "You're gonna have to get on my back, kid. It's way too deep for you."
Lucky nodded and bunched his legs together, before jumping onto Liberty's back. "Don't dig your claws in," insisted Liberty.
"I won't!" Lucky exclaimed.
There were several animals out in the yard, but not many. Liberty figured most were either training inside, or out in the territory, as finding prey would be essential on these conditions. Also, snow training was something apprentices needed, so the current weather would be good for that.
As Liberty looked at the few animals in the yard, they'd look back at her, but not for long before looking away, sometimes glaring at her first. Annoyance pricked at Liberty's pelt. Why are they so mad at me? she demanded to herself.
Overnight Liberty realized it was her opposite who had caused all of this trouble. It had to be; it definitely wasn't a big prank of some sort, and Liberty knew she never said she wanted Starlight to die, or destroyed the herb supplies. She hoped that was the only thing her opposite had done, or else she was in more trouble.
"Liberty," said a voice. Liberty turned and realized it was her mother, Charlotte; and she didn't look happy.
Hesitantly, Liberty approached her mother. "What?"
"Liberty, you were being very rude yesterday," said Charlotte.
"What did I do?" Liberty demanded.
"I think you know," Charlotte retorted.
"Well, I don't," Liberty shot back through gritted teeth.
"I don't have time for lies," growled Charlotte, making Liberty shift her jaw in annoyance. "I want to know why you did what you did."
"How am I supposed to give a reason to something I don't even know about?" Liberty snapped.
"You do know about it!" Charlotte yelled, making Liberty flinch. "Stop trying to pretend like you don't!"
"Well I--"
"Quit talking back to me. Now, for the rest of the moon I don't want you leaving the yard or The Bending Tower unless told otherwise by a senior Bender or Ash himself. Got it?"
"Bu--!"
"Got it?"
"Got it," growled Liberty. "I've got to go take Lucky out now." She then trudged through the snow, frustration raging through her at her mother. Liberty wanted to yell at her, scream at her that it wasn't her fault and she didn't understand any of this, but there was no way Charlotte would believe her.
"What's wrong?" Lucky asked, and for a while Liberty had forgotten the kit was on her back.
"Nothing, I'm fine," Liberty muttered.
"Oh. Okay."
They arrived in the forest. "Cloudie and the others should be around here," Lucky commented.
Liberty smelled the air. "I can scent them nearby," she said.
"I wish I knew how to scent," Lucky murmured.
"It'll develop as you grow older. Your mentor will probably teach you," Liberty added.
"What's a ment...or?" Lucky asked.
"An animal who teaches you."
"Who'll teach me?"
"I don't know."
They made it to the hole in the ground, with the log serving as a bridge in front of them. "Now you're allowed to dig your claws in," Liberty said.
She could feel Lucky do so, but it didn't hurt. Liberty slowly crossed the log, digging her claws in as a precaution, and made it across, then kept going through the forest, Lucky now loosening his grip on her as they continued on through the territory.
Finally they made it to tree-fall place, where the young were chasing each other around, playing a game. Airia was there also, much to Liberty's annoyance. She didn't feel like talking to the winged wolf after being accused of messing up the herbs.
"There. Go play," Liberty said, lowering down.
Lucky set a paw into the snow, but yelped and drew back. "It's cold!"
"Yep. Snow's cold," Liberty said.
"And it feels weird," Lucky said, and Liberty could picture the kitten wrinkling his small nose in disgust. "How can they be playing in it?"
"Snow can be fun when you get used to it," Liberty replied.
"But I don't like it," Lucky insisted.
"You barely set your paw in the snow. Try it."
The black kitten then reluctantly got off Liberty's back. Luckily the snow here didn't sink as much, so Lucky's paws didn't go too far under the blanket of snow. A gust of wind blew through the area, making some of the snow flow against their pelts. Lucky shivered. "It's cold."
"You said that before," Liberty said.
Lucky picked his way over to the young. "Can I play?" he asked.
They stopped to look at him. "Of course!" Cloudie insisted.
"But he can't play!" Alista protested. "He always trips over his own paws."
"That's mean, Alista," Rhonda insisted.
"It's true though," Alista remarked.
Lucky's ears drooped. "Sorry," he murmured.
Somehow Liberty felt a protective instinct towards the kitten and she stepped forward. "Hey," she growled, and the rest of the young flinched. "You tripped over your own paws too Alista. You have no room to talk."
"I'm sorry!" Alista squeaked. "Just don't be mean, like you were yesterday."
This made Liberty madder. Now even the young were thinking she behaved just as her opposite apparently had. "I won't," she replied. "Now be nice to Lucky."
"We are!" Rhonda protested. "Except Alista isn't."
"I said I was sorry!" Alista yelped.
"Sorry you ever got so close to me. You're 'it'!" Cloudie exclaimed, tapping Alista with her paw before taking off.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Alista shouted. She chased after Cloudie, but the amount of snow slowed both her and Cloudie down.
Liberty sat down in the snow to watch the young, making sure to keep a safe distance from Airia. Alista seemed to have her mind set on chasing Cloudie, who kept running from Alista. At first Liberty wondered if this was unfair due to Cloudie's blindness, but surprisingly the wolf pup seemed to be a good navigator despite this. The silver pup managed to jump over tree logs in her way and avoid rocks in the ground. Liberty was impressed by it.
Lucky was standing by Okerro, who were both keeping at a safe distance. "One of those two always end up arguing or trying to chase each other," Okerro was explaining. "You just need to avoid 'em."
"You need to pay attention, too!" Rhonda exclaimed, tackling Okerro and pinning him to the ground. "I got tagged, and guess what? You're it!" she laughed and got off him before taking off, surprisingly fast for having her paws sinking into the snow with every step.
Okerro got to his paws and gave a hungry look at Lucky, who took off as soon as the winged pup had gotten up. Okerro gave chase, using his wings to help him speed up. Lucky ran though - about as fast as Rhonda, which was impressive given Lucky's size - and he ran right up a tree, getting pretty far up but then stopping in the middle. He gave a wary glance at the ground. "Help!" he yelped, dangling.
"Just climb up the rest of the way!" Liberty insisted.
"I can't!" Lucky cried.
"Okerro, maybe I should teach you how to fly soon," Airia chuckled. "It'd help you in situations like this."
"Yeah!" Okerro said, beaming at his mother.
"That won't be fair!" Alista protested.
"Stupid wolf gets born with wings and all the sudden he'll be able to win every game of tag!" Rhonda exclaimed.
"Rhonda, don't call others 'stupid'," Airia insisted.
Meanwhile Liberty headed over to the tree and helped Lucky down. "You would've been fine if you just fell," she insisted.
"The ground was far away," Lucky whimpered.
"'Ey guys!"
Liberty turned around to see Ryker, Sirius, Ekaj and Spot all there.
"Hi!" Rhonda exclaimed.
"Why're you guys out here?" Liberty asked.
She couldn't help but notice Ryker, Sirius and Ekaj - especially Ekaj - giving her uneasy glances. But Spot spoke up. "Our mentors told us to take the morning off, use the opportunity to get some exercise. We could smell you all out here. Decided to join you."
"Yeah," Sirius echoed, eyeing Liberty.
A feeling of dread washed over Liberty. Great, she thought. What'd my opposite do to them?
"Wanna play tag?" Okerro asked. "It'd be cool to have more players."
"Sure," Spot shrugged. "But I'm warning you, I'm pretty fast."
"Not as fast as me!" insisted Rhonda, puffing out her chest.
Liberty looked at Lucky. "Are you okay playing with big animals?"
Lucky gave a shy nod.
"They'll go easy on you," Liberty added. "Go play."
Liberty turned to watch from a distance - determined not to join in on the game - but when she turned around she was face-to-face with Sirius and Ryker.
"Out of the way," Sirius growled, gritting her teeth, shouldering past Liberty.
Liberty pushed down on Sirius's tail, forcing her to stop. "I want to know why you're mad at me," she said calmly.
A flash of fear sparked in Sirius's eyes - Liberty wondered if she was recalling her fight with Sirius's brother Wyki - but it left not soon after being there. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Sirius, I don't know what 'I' did to you, but that was my opposite. I have no memory of it," Liberty insisted.
Sirius rolled her eyes. "Right. And I suppose Ryker over here has two heads." She gave a sideways nod to the Border Collie.
"It had to have been! You saw--" Liberty lowered her voice before continuing, "--you saw Bracken and Ash in that cave. Remember?"
Sirius seemed to consider Liberty's words, but just growled. "I don't believe you."
"Why don't you?" Liberty demanded, anger bubbling up inside her chest.
"The memory is still fresh in my mind. You took part of my ear," Sirius growled.
Liberty only just now noticed the nick in Sirius's left ear. The silver wolf continued. "You took in while you were attempting to kill me!"
"Wha--?" Liberty began.
"Don't play dumb," Sirius snarled, lips curled. "You said Fake-Ash gave you orders to kill me. And you obeyed him," she whispered. "How could your loyalties lie with him?"
"But I didn't--!"
"Save it, traitor. I don't want you to talk me to ever again."
Sirius then yanked her tail from Liberty's paw and walked over to join in on tag. Ryker gave Liberty a look. "You try to come close to Sirius again, I'll tear you apart."
Liberty was coming closer and closer to snapping, to screaming in anger and confusion. "Let you try to do that," she hissed to the dog. It made it sound like she was guilty of trying to kill Sirius, but at that point Liberty didn't care; and she knew that if Ryker did try to come after her, he'd lose the fight.
At that point, Liberty's anger was beginning to take over her. She turned to leave, deciding Airia could bring Lucky back, but once she turned around again this time she was looking at Ekaj.
He flinched as he looked at her. "Liberty..." he began.
She was too angered to let him speak. "Save it. I don't want anymore accusations thrown at me." She then walked past Ekaj, heading back towards The Bending Tower without looking back.
Liberty kept trudging through the snow, wallowing in her own anger. She knew she wasn't too far from The Bending Tower, but then Fake-Ash came into the clearing.
"Hello Liberty," he said calmly.
Liberty gritted her teeth. Just what she needed. "Hello," she returned.
"I have something I'd like you to do for me," Fake-Ash insisted, his dark blue eyes looking at her and a cold smile forming onto his face, as if he had a horrible plan in his mind.
Author's Note:
What do you think it is? o:
Fake-Ash is super creepy :0
ReplyDelete*pulls ears down* THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING
ReplyDelete**yawns**
ReplyDeleteboorrrriinnngggg